Author Topic: Cutting arrow shafts from a block  (Read 2134 times)

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Offline DC

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Cutting arrow shafts from a block
« on: February 12, 2018, 02:08:33 pm »
Hawkdancer brought this up over on the give away thread. If you have a split block that is about 5"x5" how do you turn it into pieces that will go nicely/safely though a table saw? I could try and run it though my band saw but without one flat side that would be tough even if I could saw a straight line. For a table saw you would want at least one flat side and no more than 2 1/2" thick.

Offline TSA

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Re: Cutting arrow shafts from a block
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2018, 02:40:03 pm »
Best way to do that is to take a sacrificial piece of thin plywood
place the unevenly shaped block on the ply- and make some wedges that go in and support/cradle the block- then run maybe one or two short screws through the plywood sled into the block, at each end- in the area that might get trimmed off when the shafts are finished.
then run it through the  saw with the sled running up against the fence.
once i had a flat face, i would take the sled off, now you can cut boards to your hearts content.

having done this before- cutting bow lams from odd chunks of wood, i would, once a flat face has been established, flip the block 90* re-attach to the sled, and cut another face at 90* to the first one.

you dont need this second face to cut boards, but will find it waaay easier to cut the square blanks if you have a straight edge on the boards.


just make sure that when you do these square cuts, that you are following the grain perfectly- to ensure that your finished arrows have minimal grain runout!

the initial square face cuts dictate how the rest of the operation will go.

oh, and dont cut the screws ;) ;)

Offline DC

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Re: Cutting arrow shafts from a block
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2018, 03:12:42 pm »
I did it that way once but I thought there had to be an easier way. Guess not ;D ;D I used 5 min epoxy instead of screws. You can cut it. :)

Offline TSA

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Re: Cutting arrow shafts from a block
« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2018, 05:23:21 pm »
Thats an excellent idea DC.
i will be using that in the future :)

Offline Hawkdancer

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Re: Cutting arrow shafts from a block
« Reply #4 on: February 12, 2018, 10:27:38 pm »
I like the idea of epoxy or glue to hold the wedges - saves the saw blade.  The other trick is keeping the fingers out of the way >:D  )-w(!  Thanks for the info!
Hawkdancer
Life is far too serious to be taken that way!
Jerry